There’s not much to set the scene. Just a well sunk into the ground to reach an underground water supply. Nothing huge, and quite insignificant really but the local place for getting the water for the day. It had better water than the other springs near by which is why it was dug in the first place. 40 meters deep. It’s a long way down. 35 meters before you hit the top of the water. It’s a lot of work to get your water for the day, which is why the women would come out first thing in the morning : in the cool. It was nearly a kilometre from the town centre carrying around 30 kilos on your head and so it was no small feat. To do it at noon would have been craziness. But this is exactly what she was doing.

She must’ve been in her 40’s. a bit haggard, smoker, liked to drink a bit too much too regularly but she wasn’t an alcoholic, just someone who liked escaping. Her face was rough and wrinkled, but she was still beautiful in the kind of way that aging Hollywood stars are.

When people talked about her, they used words like shameful, slut, tramp, snob, abrasive, up-herself, shallow, complainer. She wasn’t popular with women, and she wasn’t unpopular with men. The men kind of looked at her as a disposable option, a passing fad. They would consider her for romance if they were desperate more than anything. But there was more than that, to them, she seemed like a genuinely nice woman : until they got to know her.

I don’t know what it was about her that wouldn’t give her relationships longevity, whether she had no self-respect and that weakness drove the men away when they had exhausted all their lust for power : power isn’t nearly as satisfying when it’s lorded over pathetic weakness, you need to have some kind of a fight. So after having had absolute power for awhile, they would need something else and move on. Total compliance is quite tedious really.

So here is the woman, who has no name, but lives in a city called Sychar in Samaria. Now a bit of history. Samaritans were viewed by the Jews much in the same way we as Christians view Jehovah’s witnesses or Mormons in other words, there was crossover in theology but quite distinct in fundamental ways that we as Christians don’t agree with. Samaritans held the view that only the first 5 books of what we call the old testament were actually scriptural. They also believed in a messiah but only in the sense of moses coming back from the dead to deliver them. They had built a temple for the true worship of God on a mountain in Samaria (like the Jews had done in Jerusalem) and claimed that it was the only true temple. They were regarded by the jews as half-breeds, and with the strong Jewish feelings about mixing together two different things, being an abomination to the lord, they classified the Samaritans as being unclean. It was a religiously inspired prejudice than ran strong from both communities. In 400 bc a ruler from Jerusalem came over to samaria and destroyed their temple. So naturally the two didn’t like each other, so much so in fact, that Jews would travel around samaria rather than through it because they believed they would be made ritually unclean and unsightly before God : which is what makes the parable of the good Samaritan so incredible.

So this woman was a Samaritan. She was despised by the Jews because of her heritage, and she was on the fringe of her own society. Let’s bear this in mind as our story unfolds. (think of a person who you know who is like this).

The day was typically hot, and she went to the well at noon to get her water. She went at noon so that she wouldn’t bump into many people : it was too hard work having to wear the scorn of other people’s unforgiving stares and backstabs. She went when it would be quiet, when she wouldn’t have to walk alongside many other women, wait in line : actually that was the worst part, people would only talk in exclusive whispers when she was around. There’s nothing like a crowd to drive home loneliness.

So she arrived at the well this one afternoon, hot and bothered and was surprised to see a man sitting there. It actually made her uncomfortable, but she still brushed her hair to one side before continuing, she still needed to look her best for some reason.

He had noticed her and was watching her intently. It was unnerving not in a creepy sort of way, but she felt like he knew her somehow. Weird. He didn’t look dangerous and he seemed to be quite calm. He smiled at her.

That spooked her and she stopped and stared at him for a moment made brief eye contact and then buried her face into the task of watching her footsteps as she walked toward the well.

Everything went in slow motion from there as she went about getting her water out of the well, hooking her jar onto the rope, letting the jar down, listening for the splash, then pulling the jar up. Unhooking it, and letting it rest on the side.

Pulling a jar of fresh cool water up from a well in the heat of direct sun is really thirsty work, and as she normally did, she took her cup that she carried with her and dipped it into the jar and drank.

Oh, how refreshing! It always hit the spot so perfectly. It was one of the favourite parts of her day.

“Give me a drink.” The words interrupted her momentary escape and replaced it with an intense social awkwardness.

She turned at looked at the man who made the demand.

“I beg your pardon?” she said. He was a Jew she was a Samaritan. They hated each other…apparently. The man who was a Jew had just crossed a number of social barriers. First, he had talked to a woman in a public place. Not cool. Second, she was a Samaritan. Third he was going to share her cup which was prohibited by the rabbinic writings. So on three counts this man was being totally inappropriate.

She looked at him long and hard, “how come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan to have me get you a drink?”

He smiled at her. “if you knew what the gift from God would look like, if you could really see beyond the now, if you were prepared to take a bird’s eye view of your life, your context, of your connections, if you were able to understand just who it was that was asking you for water then you would be the one who would be asking right back for the same thing and more. You would be asking him for the water that would quench your ever-present thirst in life, the living water.”

“Of all the people,” she thought to herself, “of all the people who come here for water, why do I have to be the one who gets landed with the weirdo from Jerusalem.

She was incredulous. “Living water? Well, I suppose that all fresh water is living in the sense that it gives life, and cleans, and any number of things. yes, but he does seem to be wanting me to ask him for something other than this water here. Living water . . . what does he mean? And what does he mean that he can procure ‘living water” for me?

“so, uh, you have no bucket, and that well is pretty deep…so I’m not really sure how you will get this living water. And besides, if it’s not the water I’ve just drawn from the well, then what are you proposing? That you’ll dig another well or something? Are you claiming to be bigger and better than our forefather Jacob? There’s a lot of history you’re competing with buster.”

Then he responded, “you’ll come back to this well tomorrow for more of this water won’t you? Why is that?”

“it’s because I’ll have drunk this by then” she said.

“right, and that’s the difference between this water in your jar and the living water I can give you. If you drink the living water, then you will never thirst again.”

The weirdo-meter started flying off the scale. But there was something he was saying that seemed calmly true. There was a foundation that she could sense that was solid and firm. There was something about what he was saying that was resonating deeply with her.

The man continued, “the people who drink from the water that I give them, will discover a spring inside them that will gush up into eternal life. They will be overcome by this fantastic feeling of being able to live life real and authentically. Their existence will be validated and they will have hope in God. Yep, the water I offer, is stuff that will sustain all of someone’s life.”

She was gob-smacked by these heady words, these lofty and pie in the sky promises. This guy obviously believed it wholeheartedly, but she couldn’t. Never have to thirst again? Whoever heard of such a thing. But he genuinely believed what he was saying. Call his bluff and be done with it she thought.

“give me this water (she said echoing his request from her), give me this water so that I never have to thirst again and come here to this well.”

It was worded as a challenge, but it’s actually a nice thought, it would save her a walk and reduce the risk of encountering anyone she didn’t like on the way.

He didn’t respond. It was like he was waiting for the penny to drop. There was nothing of the sort happening in her mind. Crazy guy. It’s time to go. She turned to her jar and began to ready herself to position it on her head for the long walk home.

The man spoke up. “why don’t you go home and bring your husband back here.”

She blushed heavily. This was awkward, but she’d been through it a few times before and she had worked out the answer. She looked out the corner of her eye and said flatly : “I have no husband.”

“That’s right.” He said. “you’ve had five husbands and the man you live with now, is not one of them.”

Now, it doesn’t matter what opinion you have of marriage, in a society that is patriarchal and marriage dominated, so much so that being unmarried was socially unacceptable especially for a woman, five husbands and living in de facto (civil union) was actually a shameful thing and people would have been talking about her all over the place. This was reason for her shame and most of the time she was able to conceal it but not this time.

And she felt the sting of judgement being fired at her again. And the emotional deficit had been exposed once again. And we ask why is it that she was married 5 times? Was it because she needed acceptance from men to compensate for her low self esteem? Was it because she liked the power of being able to control and manipulate men by seducing them into her world to spit them out? (split enz shark attack comes to mind). What are the reasons? And I suspect that you have your own ideas. No-one knows, and that’s not the point. The point is that you have your own ideas and believe it or not, they probably represent something of your own brokenness. It’s called projection. We take the worst about us and project it on other people. Often when someone feels insecure they think everyone else is insecure : it’s a way of distracting them from the awful truth of who they are. They don’t have to own up because everyone else is worse.

I’ve been catching the bus a bit lately and I’ve noticed how quick people are to jump on other people’s mistakes or stupidity. Like how one woman got a little upset about how the bus didn’t pull up with the front door right in front of her and she had to walk 2 meters to get there . . . or how someone didn’t see the green light and got honked at and two of the pedestrians who were waiting to cross the road shook their head in wonder “some people” they thought. We need to crush other people to make our own failings seem less, and so we look at this woman who has been married five times and is in a live in relationship with another man and we feel like we can justifiably call her immoral and in need of salvation. We have our ideas of what type of person she is, and I want to suggest that those ideas reflect quite strongly some of our own fears for ourselves, whether actual or perceived. Those ideas of what she is like point right back at our own deficits : by the lack of detail in her story she becomes a mirror of ourselves. What do you think?

But we might look at her, and if we knew her, see her as a mission opportunity and think that this story is all about that. but the point of this story is not about her redemption. The point of the story is that she was impressed by how Jesus knew this information about her, that she hid from others and tried to hide from herself. And he exposed her in the way that the light of the world should and he fired at her not condemnation, nor even pointed out that it was sin, he just said the facts and she responded by being so blown away that she left her jar behind and ran into the city to tell people that she thinks she has seen the messiah! The saviour of the world, the one whom the prophets had spoken so often about and that had come to rescue them from this existence.

She was so blown away by his knowledge of her secrets, his soothsaying, his word of knowledge, this glimpse of the supernatural that she made a quick jump to him being the messiah.

And how would a society that spurns her react? How would they take her message? Do we see a transformation that has taken place in this story? That this woman who was so ashamed that she came at noon to avoid the crowds, after her encounter with Jesus overcame her shame and pointed people toward him? Her testimony was simple : he told me everything about my life, could this man be the messiah. But she said it with hope and freedom.

The point of the story is that she became light for her city! Without any record of her repenting! We might assume she did, but it’s not explicit in the text.

Is this possible, that the sinner becomes the tool of God? That right here, right now, there is a call on all of us in this building, to be excited about the Jesus we are being presented with? She ran to the city with her question, could this be him?

But notice that there is something missing in this account. John never says that she believes.

But I think it all comes crumbling down. You could read it differently but I don’t think the story has a happy ending.

For a couple of days the woman was really popular, people were calling her up and associating with her again. There was a tremendous amount of interest in her story and in this man Jesus. they asked him if he would stick around for awhile and talk to them.

You see she was amazed by Jesus and how he knew her history, and the supernatural event that took place there. And it looks like she gained acceptance from the crowd for awhile at least. And she was a pointer toward Jesus, but she fades into the background after Jesus comes on to the scene. People believed in Jesus because of what he said to them, because of him spending time with them and her testimony to his amazing stuff meant less and less. In the end, there is no point where the bible says that she believed, all she did was testify to a small miracle and people wanted to seek Jesus out. She didn’t believe.

Belief. Belief is such a strong theme in John’s writing that it is not an accidental omission. Belief is not just in the existence of Jesus, but in the fact that it is through Jesus that we can and are able to relate with God, it is through Jesus that we are able to live a fulfilled and meaningful life, it is through belief in Jesus that we are welcomed back to the all-embracing arms of God.

But I think this woman did what so many do, she saw the spectacular side of Jesus but couldn’t get beyond it, and I wonder if she was really prepared to go through the hard yards of owning up to her issues and problems. Jesus offered her the water of life, the simple fact that we can go to him and never thirst again spiritually. But she couldn’t get beyond the feelings, the miracle.

For us to drink from the fountain of life requires that we acknowledge that we are thirsty and I think that that is a hard ask. Because it means that we lay all, not just bits, but all to bare before love of Jesus. it doesn’t work if we’re not honest.

Are you thirsty for the water of life? Are you thirsty for the water of life?